Ida Slater: A geologist ahead of her time

Who was Ida Slater?

Ida Lilian Slater (1881-1969) was born into a wealthy family in Hampstead, London in 1881. She was one of four children of Mary Emily Wilkins (1846-unknown) and John Slater (1847-1924), a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects.

Ida went to the all-girls South Hampstead High School. A good education and a thirst for knowledge motivated her to go on to study geology at the Newnham College in Cambridge. There she joined the Sedgwick Club – an Earth Sciences society at the University of Cambridge – and became its honorary secretary. Before becoming a geologist, Ida also explored geomorphology and stratigraphy.

Ida challenged the patriarchal system of the Victorian era in many ways. Although women were allowed to study, they weren't allowed to graduate from most universities, including Cambridge. So she travelled solo to Dublin to gain her first class degree.

It was uncommon for a woman to travel unaccompanied during that time. However, Ida’s love of learning and discovery kept her driven. She continued to defy the norm by taking further trips abroad to visit colleagues and do fieldwork.

She went on to make great strides in the field of palaeontology, especially in the study of conulariids, a poorly understood group of fossils.

Dr Consuelo Sendino, one of our Scientintific Associates and a former curator of invertebrates, says, “Slater made important contributions to our understanding and knowledge of the Early Palaeozoic, and of course the taxonomy of conulariids.”

Ida’s conulariid collection is now part of the collections we care for. Consuelo believes it’s the best in the world in terms of diversity, and second-best in its number of specimens.

Consuelo says, “her work has been cited for over one hundred years and continues to be cited to this day by researchers on this group of fossils.”

Pioneering in palaeontology

Ida’s earlier work focused on geology, as evidenced in her first paper, On the Probable Origin of Some Types of Valleys. In it, she explored the origin of U-shaped and V-shaped valleys, concluding that the U-shaped ones were not always originated by ice action. The theory had never been considered nor researched and was even disputed by other established male geologists.

Ida stood her ground, though it wasn’t until the end of the twentieth century that her theory was proven right. The paper wasn’t published, though the summary can be seen in the notes she took as honorary secretary of the Sedgwick Club.

It was Henry Woods, Ida’s palaeontology lecturer in Cambridge, who acknowledged her passion and encouraged her to study conulariids. Conulariids were once a type of jellyfish polyp stage and then a group a fossils which had never been studied in Britain.

Collecting fossils was generally overlooked by men as it was considered a pastime for middle-class women. This disregard gave women a chance to demonstrate their genuine interest in science and leave a legacy for future generations. Ida was good at spotting opportunities and saw this as a way of making her mark.

To carry out her research, Ida frequented the British Museum, where she met and became friends with Dr Arthur Smith Woodward, a former keeper of the Geological Department.

Woodward was impressed with Ida’s knowledge and commitment. He asked her to prepare a monograph of the British conulariids for the Palaeontographical Society, which was later completed and published in 1907.

During her research, Ida travelled abroad to compare the specimens in the collections we care for to those of other institutions and private collectors, a procedure that is still followed today.

She applied for funding – another exceptional act for a Victorian woman – with the support of Woodward and was awarded the Daniel Pidgeon Fund from the Geological Society to investigate Palaeozoic rocks of Wales. Ida’s ambition to make a difference was starting to come true.

Besides palaeontology, geomorphology and stratigraphy, Ida was very good at illustrating. She secured work as an illustrator and also created a series of drawings celebrating the signing of the Entente Cordiale of 1904, marked the end of nearly a thousand years of conflict between Britain and France.

Her illustrations were exhibited at the Franco-British Exhibition in London in 1908, a public fair that attracted over eight million people. This provided her with much-needed income.

Ida’s last year of proper work was during 1911 where she worked part time as a demonstrator for another trailblazing woman geologist, Catherine Raisin. She spent the rest of her time collaborating with Gertrude Lilian Elles and Ethel M R Wood on their monograph on graptolite plates.

Ida Slater’s legacy

Ida stopped working completely after marrying a Kensington solicitor in 1912.

Despite her short scientific career, she was one of the few women to carve a place in a world of geological research dominated by men, seek and gain funding opportunities and travel solo around Europe. Ida became a demonstrator at an all-female college too, inspiring the next generation of female geologists. She also wrote three papers, one monograph and drew plates for publications and exhibitions professionally.

While Ida is known for her work in palaeontology, her success expands beyond that. She was, and still is, an epitome of female empowerment, displaying many traits needed to achieve a dream. In a world where women were presented with nothing but obstacles for wanting the same opportunities as men, Ida exhibited bravery, resilience, passion, determination and intelligence.

Her actions and achievements suggest she was ahead of her time, changing not only how women were perceived in the professional environment but also inspiring other women to accomplish the same.

As women were rarely credited for their input during that period, she may have achieved even more, which went unnoticed.

However, one thing is for sure – Ida Lilian Slater left her mark on the world, in more ways than one.